Egypt’s president heads to Qatar on first visit as rift healed

Egypt’s president travels to Qatar on his first visit to the gas-rich nation amid warming ties after years of frayed relations following the Egyptian military’s overthrow of an Islamist president backed by Doha.

The two-day trip comes amid a rapid rapprochement between Egypt and Qatar after the end in 2021 of a yearslong boycott of Doha by four Arab states, including Egypt. Qatar’s state-run news agency says Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was to hold talks with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

In June, Sheikh Tamim visited Cairo, where he was welcomed at the airport by Sissi, in a sign of warming ties.

The two countries’ relations deteriorated in 2013, when Sissi, as defense minister, led the military’s overthrow of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi following a short-lived and divisive rule. Morsi, who hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood, was backed by Qatar.